With Eye on the Future, Kyiv Seeks to Expand Ties with Central Asian Countries

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 31 – In early July, the Ukrainian foreign ministry established a department to develop its ties with Central Asia, the latest indication that Kyiv is focusing on developing closer ties with the countries of that region both now and especially for development help after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine ends.

            In a comment on those possibilities in The Times of Central Asia, Nikol Mikovic, a Serbian journalist, says that Kyiv can count on Ukrainian diasporas and numerous Ukrainian firms across the region as well as memories of their common Soviet pasts (timesca.com/ukraine-eyes-central-asia-can-war-weary-kyiv-forge-new-regional-alliances/).

            But he argues that the Ukrainian government faces an uphill struggle at least in the short term because trade between Kyiv and these countries has collapsed as a result of the war and because the Central Asian countries don’t want to take any radical steps that could infuriate the Russian Federation.

            As a result, Mikovic suggests, Ukraine is taking these steps now primarily with an eye to developing closer ties with the Central Asian countries and relying on their help once Putin’s invasion of Ukraine ends. All of the Central Asian countries have resident embassies in Kyiv and the new department will seek to work closely with them.